(posted July 20, 2008)
Disclaimer: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Thanks so much to the REVIEWERS of chapter 25: Bluebird Soaring, riah riddle, flamingmarsh, Kesera (for reviewing both versions), Dragowolf (for reviewing both versions), thechickenlittle, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, theshadowcat, Blume, Nitrostreak, PyroP-Dawg, Fae Child19, lady tecuma, MadameSoybean, xCubicZirconia, Hearts of Eternity, RachaelMNiner, Xerios, Lecidre, grlwdgrntrk, and Shizuka Taiyou.
Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:
[Favorite Story]: xCubicZirconia, Ladyofthedrgns
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[Favorite Author]: Senora Starscream, xCubicZirconia
[Author Alert]: Violetlight
CREDITS: I am using lady tecuma's idea of Floatilla having been blown and a memorial erected in its place, from her story, "Sparks and Plasma." The name, Nightfire, belongs to lady tecuma. The Decepticon femme character with that name, however, is mine.
THANK YOUs: Thank you goes out to Hearts of Eternity, Violetlight, and lady tecuma for beta reading this. You all helped out in one form or another and thanks to Hearts for the helpful suggestions she gave.
RECOMMENDATION: I recently wrote a fic about Ironhide and Chromia before the events of "Night Fire." It is a one shot about a more...special moment between them that ties into this fic. It is called, "Never Could Wait," if anyone is interested, or hasn't read it (I know a lot of you have and I thank you so much for the reviews! They are great!).
(Summary for Never Could Wait: Movieverse: IronhidexChromia embody deadly accuracy, strengthened by sparkbond, driven by battle-hunger. As wounds are patched, hunger of a different kind takes shape, much to the aggravation of a certain medic. Restraint was never their strong point.)
NOTE: Memory reviews and flashbacks are not necessarily in chronological order. This will become more apparent in the next chapter.
Italics are memory reviews or flashbacks. Normal print is the present.
Enjoy!
Night Fire
Chapter 26
Whirlwind
by Litahatchee
"This weld is a sorry excuse for a repair," Nightfire stated, matter-of-factly, as she assisted Ratchet in replacing the weld to Chromia's spark-casing...
...again.
Ratchet didn't spare her a glance. She had been berating him about not replacing the spark-casing for orns now. It was a routine enough procedure, but not in Chromia's case. He was unsure how Chromia's systems would handle it. The damage was just too extensive and there were too many unknowns. Nightfire knew that.
For the umpteenth time, Ratchet said to her, "We didn't have any spare casings," which was exactly the reason that they did not replace it. However, that did not mean that replacing it would have been the right decision. In fact, it would have been a very bad, very fatal decision.
Thinking back on it, Ratchet was very glad that there had been no spare casings around. If there had been, he would have replaced her damaged casing, and Chromia would not have survived. She wasn't strong enough for such a procedure. Ratchet would not have known that until it was too late.
Nightfire reached, placing a small bit of solder to the back of the plate that First Aid had covered the hole on the casing with.
"It's a good thing you didn't," Nightfire replied almost absently. "She would have died for sure..."
Ratchet leaned back abruptly, looking at her incredulously. "You're the one that keeps telling me I should have replaced the casing. Now you're telling me I made the right decision?"
"I'm not saying you made the right decision about the weld, but it is a good thing you didn't replace the casing at that time."
Ratchet made an exasperated sound, "Are you here to help me or insult me?"
"Both," Nightfire answered without hesitation. "And you are the one that asked me for help, remember?"
"I didn't ask for your insults," Ratchet answered, though an amused smile began to form on his faceplates. There was something about her...
"Well," she continued. "This weld is always going to cause her problems, especially during joining with that fragger she bonded herself to. That's not something she can just give up, unfortunately. You can keep replacing the weld as needed, but it would be better if you can replace the casing at some point. That would solve a lot of her problems."
Ratchet looked at her pointedly, "And how do you propose I do that in this case?"
Nightfire matched his gaze, smiling wryly, "You're the CMO around here." She raised an optic ridge, "You figure it out."
She never missed an opportunity to harass the Autobot medic, but she wasn't entirely sure herself on how to replace Chromia's spark-casing. It would be the best thing for Chromia, if it could be done but, for the time being, she also felt there had to be some other way to do this. They needed to find a stronger alloy so the weld would at least last a lot longer before needing replacement. The procedure was too hard on Chromia's already stressed systems.
With sparkshock, a hole in her spark-casing, and a hole through her abdomen just beneath her spark, full of trouble-shooted rewiring, neither one of them were sure how her systems would react to the procedure. To make matters worse, Ratchet wasn't sure if her spark had suffered any microscopic injuries from shrapnel that might have come from either her spark-casing or the spear that penetrated it. The spear had missed her spark, and he had determined that her spark suffered no injury from it, but he couldn't be a hundred percent certain.
If there was further injury, he wouldn't know it until right in the middle of the procedure, as he transferred the spark. Then it could become an emergency that he wasn't prepared to deal with, especially since they were trying to preserve what was possibly one of the last bonded pairs of their kind. If he lost them, he would be unable to live with himself, especially knowing that they would continue to live if he simply just replaced the weld every now and then.
Perhaps, over time, her systems would heal and her spark would strengthen enough for him to feel confident in performing the replacement. But, at that time, he didn't think it was a good idea to try.
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Chromia felt disoriented, again. The memory review that had just come through seemed to possess an underlying intention on Ratchet's part...
...Ratchet was planning on replacing the weld. Chromia tensed involuntarily. She didn't want him to replace the weld now. It wasn't a good time.
Ratchet gripped her neck as she tensed up, the flow of energy unsatisfactorily decreasing when she did so.
"Relax Chromia," he murmured.
He knew she was about to lose it, but he pressed anyway. He only needed another breem.
Chromia was suddenly plunged into darkness. It was all around her, all around them. Memories from all three of them were starting to surface between both she and Ratchet.
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She felt like she was suffocating, like Nightfire and Ratchet were closing in on her and she wanted nothing more than for both of them to leave her and Ironhide alone. Then, it happened.
Nightfire came in and told her that the Autobots were going to destroy what remained of Floatilla. They planned on leveling it, for nothing to remain and for nothing to be rebuilt. Instead, only one lone memorial with the names of all that were lost would be erected in its place. Nightfire told her that she planned on being on it when it blew. She should have died there. She belonged there with her sparkmate.
Chromia's spark sank. As much as she wanted Nightfire to leave her alone about her own loss, she couldn't fathom the loss that Nightfire was enduring. However, she didn't want Nightfire to do it; she wanted her to remain with them.
As annoying as Nightfire could be, she had been with Chromia since the tragedy and Chromia didn't want her to leave. They were the only femmes that had survived Megatron's wrath at the plaza; they understood each other. Chromia felt like she needed her, that Nightfire was the only one that understood what that had been like...
However, instead of protesting, instead of talking her out of it, and because she understood, even envied her, Chromia made a request:
"Will you take Sunshadow with you? He belongs there too."
---
Ratchet came rushing into the recovery room a joor later, a joor too late. He looked very concerned. Nightfire had never left the medical facility before. Now he couldn't find her.
Floatilla had been scheduled for destruction that very cycle. Everyone knew that; they were all going to be watching. Nightfire's sudden disappearance could not have been a coincidence. Ratchet feared what her intentions could be. When he saw that Ironhide and Chromia's sparkling was gone, fear gripped his spark.
He ran to Chromia and Ironhide's room to ask what Chromia knew of it. Ironhide and Chromia were recovering fairly well, at least outwardly, but Ratchet had them reside in the medical facility until he was absolutely certain. Chromia was recalibrating her shoulder cannon when he ran in.
He glanced at the cannon before saying, "Where is she? I know you know."
Chromia didn't even look up at him, "She's not going to just sit around and wait for death, you know."
"Dammit, Chromia, I'm not playing games!" Ratchet yelled.
"Neither am I!" she screamed back, finally looking up at him.
It was the absolute terror on Ratchet's face that made Chromia relent. She had never seen him like that before.
"She went there," Chromia spoke quietly. "She plans on being on it when it blows."
That was exactly what Ratchet was afraid she was going to say.
"And your sparkling?"
Chromia bowed her head, "She took him with her."
Ratchet bolted out of the room and Chromia turned her attentions back to her weapon. Everyone else may have been going to watch Floatilla as it blew, but she and Ironhide had other plans...
---
Ratchet found Nightfire at Floatilla, just where Chromia said she would be. He was able to find Optimus in time and they stopped the scheduled detonation. They were now waiting for him to give them the word that everyone was clear of the site before continuing on with it.
"Nightfire, I can't let you do this," Ratchet had been trying to convince her for several breems that she was making the wrong decision.
"I should have died here," Nightfire said to him.
"If you had died here, where would we be? Where would Ironhide and Chromia be? Where would Optimus be?"
"Yea, that's always been my dream as a Decepticon: to help the Autobots," she said, her words dripping in sarcasm. "And don't get me started on Ironhide...and Chromia is lost. Nothing I say or do gets through to her."
Ignoring the Autobot comment, Ratchet focused on Chromia, "It'll get through. It's in her mind. When the time comes, she'll remember."
"Will she?" Nightfire looked up at him, a knowing look on her face.
Both she and Ratchet knew that Chromia had been deleting memory files. It was something they worked hard to dissuade, but of no avail.
Ratchet sighed. He tried another approach, "You saved Elita. Optimus is forever in your debt."
"I didn't save Elita; she saved herself," Nightfire replied.
"That's not the way Optimus sees it," Ratchet said back.
"Prime can see whatever he wants," she said.
"She never would have made it, if it weren't for you!" Ratchet was getting angry. This femme was impossibly hard-headed.
"Congratulations to me, then," she replied in that sarcastic tone again. A moment of silence went by before she added quietly, "I have fulfilled my obligations. Let me go, Ratchet."
Ratchet held out his hand, not intending to let her go, "Please, come back with me."
"Why are you doing this?" she was growing frustrated too.
If she ever ran into Chromia in the Matrix, or the Pit, whatever the case may be, she was going to be sure she showed Chromia her displeasure at telling Ratchet what her plans had been; she was going to show her with a fist right to her faceplates. She simply wanted him to leave.
Ratchet's voice grew soft. "Because," he hesitated. "...Because I enjoy your company too much."
As much of a pain in his aft as she was, he had begun to like her presence. She simultaneously angered and amused him. He never knew what she was going to say next, and he loved that about her. He could no longer imagine his med bay without her in it.
No other Cybertronian had made an impression on him the way she had. She still had some time left. She could live awhile longer. He couldn't let her go now, not like this, not when there was still time.
Nightfire reached out from where she was sitting, and grasped Ratchet's outstretched hand...
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When the memory turned into a feeling that Ratchet had for Nightfire, Chromia squirmed uncomfortably. It was too private; it felt too real.
"Be still for just one more astrosecond," Ratchet's calm tone came to her.
She jerked away a little, "I'm trying." Her voice sounded stressed, "You're transmitting!"
Ratchet disconnected immediately. Chromia gasped in relief that it was over. Primus, how she hated CPU-port energy transfers. Physically, she did feel better, though.
Chromia struggled with her thoughts. She was being bombarded. She was in a whirlwind, struggling with thoughts on Ironhide, thoughts on Sunshadow, thoughts on herself, thoughts on Nightfire...
She thought about what Nightfire said to Ratchet, about how she felt her words weren't getting through to Chromia. Chromia felt guilt again. She had forgotten a lot of Nightfire's guidance and counsel, even about Nightfire herself, but Ratchet had been right. It was there, in her CPU, and it came to her every now and then, when she needed it most. Nightfire had helped her more than she had ever been able to tell the femme.
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"You have to accept this. It is a part of who you are. Even if you manage to be rid of it here," she pointed at Chromia's CPU, "it will still be here," she then pointed to her spark. "You will become incomplete, and you won't even know why."
"I'm moving on just fine," Chromia said to her.
"Time is passing, yes, but it's moving on without you," Nightfire replied.
"All I see is death," Chromia responded.
"Don't forget to look at those you love and see life."
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Chromia squeezed her optics shut. She wanted to lay it all to rest, but she didn't know how. She needed a distraction, any distraction. Thankfully, she had a good one.
"You were transmitting memories that belonged to Nightfire," she said to Ratchet, who was currently scanning her chassis and abdomen.
There was only two ways that one bot could possess the memories of another. Memories could be taken through tapping, or they could be given through a CPU download. Chromia knew better than to think Ratchet could be capable of tapping. He abhorred the crime. He'd never commit it himself. That could only mean one thing...Nightfire downloaded her CPU into his.
Ratchet slowed momentarily, but he did not comment on it. He had been afraid that he was transmitting something that could show that he did, indeed, posses Nightfire's memories. No one knew about it. It was something he kept to himself.
Chromia thought about that feeling that she felt from Ratchet. That feeling he had for Nightfire...
"You fell in love with her, didn't you?" Chromia could not keep the surprise from her voice.
Ratchet stopped the scans and placed his hands on the edge of the berth, sighing, "That's not possible. She could not love."
Nightfire could not love, because she already had a bonded mate. Once two Cybertronians spark-bound themselves to each other, the love that was shared was for the sparkmate and the sparkmate alone. If one of the mates died, the other was not capable of loving anyone else.
"No," Chromia responded. "But you could."
Ratchet said nothing for a few moments more and Chromia just stared at him in wonderment. Nightfire must have felt something for him. She could not give him her spark, so she gave him her CPU.
CPU downloads were unheard of among the Decepticons, and even the Autobots shied away from it. It was even rare among bonded mates. Ironhide had only just downloaded his CPU into Chromia's since she had arrived to Earth, and they had been sparkmates for eons upon eons.
For Nightfire to do something like that...It was a testament to how deeply she must have cared for Ratchet, even if she couldn't love him. Her memories seemed to be more integrated into Ratchet's CPU than Ironhide's was with Chromia's. Perhaps Ratchet had been more open to it than Chromia had been.
It was Ratchet's turn to find a distraction. He continued to run a few more scans and then that look on his faceplates when he had made a decision suddenly appeared.
Chromia tensed. He had been thinking about weld-replacement during the energy transfer. That had come through very clearly.
"I'm going to replace this weld right now," he said, opening her chestplates without preamble.
She had enough energy to make it through the procedure, but what she really needed was to join with Ironhide. However, it was a good thing that Chromia and Ironhide hadn't been able to join since they got to the base. The weld was very loose now and if it came off, she'd be in trouble. He needed to replace it now anyway.
"I don't feel up to it right now," Chromia started making excuses. Replacing the weld was very painful and her mind was too scrambled to have to deal with it at this moment.
"I gave you plenty of energy to withstand it," he said gruffly.
"I don't want to do this right now, Ratchet. This is not a good time," she said quickly.
"Whatever feelings I may or may not have had for Nightfire are irrelevant," Ratchet said. "What's relevant right now is that you are a bonded Cybertronian who needs her mate."
Chromia sighed, almost in resignation.
"You have to let him take care of you," Ratchet said.
"I don't need anyone to take care of me." Chromia hated being weak. The idea of someone taking care of her, even if it was Ironhide, sounded weak to her.
"The second you bonded with him, you needed him from then on, just like he needs you," Ratchet explained.
"I know how it works. Don't lecture me," Chromia snapped.
"Primus, how did you two ever agree to bond?" Ratchet shook his head, throwing his hands up in exasperation as he pondered that question for the trillionth time.
Chromia just glared at him.
"I'm replacing this weld and you are going to join with him if I have to strap you to this table and go get him myself," Ratchet stated.
"Ratchet, will you please just stay out of it this time?" Chromia placed her hands over her optics, her elbows sticking straight up in the air at him, as she recalled one of the more severe measures he went to in order to get her and Ironhide to join.
"When it comes to your health, I become involved," Ratchet replied, without remorse or apology.
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